Legislative Candidates

After years of waiting and months of political bantering, state Sen. Lee B. Laskin (R., Camden) and his Democratic challenger, Cherry Hill Mayor Maria Barnaby Greenwald, will meet for the first time tomorrow night in a forum to kick off the November campaign. The question-and-answer session is sponsored by the Cherry Hill Minority Civic Association. Arthur Lewis, chairman of the association's forum committee, said the event would not be a debate. Each candidate will make brief remarks, then field questions from the audience.

State legislative candidates raised $11 million and spent at least $7.3 million through Oct. 20 in the battle for control of the New Jersey Legislature, according to the latest tabulation by the state agency overseeing campaign spending. The multimillion-dollar outlay by the candidates exceeds the $5.5 million spent by candidates during the entire 1983 campaign, the last time both houses faced elections together. All 40 Senate seats and all 80 Assembly seats are at stake in the Nov. 3 election.

Three candidates for statewide office, a congressional candidate from Philadelphia, and 15 legislative candidates from the city and region face legal challenges over nominating petitions for the May 19 primary ballot that they filed last week. Commonwealth Court has scheduled hearings on the complaints, which say the petitions are flawed for reasons including missing information, invalid signatures, and improper addresses and party registrations. A supporter of State Rep. Ivan Itkin of Pittsburgh, the endorsed Democratic candidate for governor, filed a challenge against Itkin's primary opponent Phil Berg of Lafayette Hill, saying 54 of 129 signatures that Berg obtained in Dauphin County were invalid.

State legislative candidates set a record for campaign spending this fall, with nearly $4 million spent alone on the hotly contested races in the Third District in Gloucester County. A total of 205 legislative candidates spent a record $28.3 million - an average of $137,960 each - in this year's general elections, the state Election Law Enforcement Commission reported yesterday. That breaks the previous level, set in 1997, of $22.5 million. Spending was particularly high in South Jersey, where several districts were identified by both major parties as critical to winning control of the legislature.

Democrats are raising far more money than Republicans in a handful of highly competitive local legislative races in New Jersey, according to campaign reports released yesterday. Since the beginning of the campaign season, legislative candidates around the state have raised $27.8 million and spent $14 million. In 2003, the last time all 120 seats were up, they raised $48 million and spent $40.4 million in the same period. Democratic legislative candidates in Burlington, Atlantic, Cape May and Monmouth Counties have raised a combined $4 million, while Republicans have raised $2 million.

Jim Florio with coattails? As unthinkable as that may have seemed only months ago, today Democrats are eagerly attaching their campaigns to that of a governor they once planned to shun. Florio's ascent in the polls has given hope to Democratic legislative candidates across New Jersey who once feared they would be casualties of an epic Florio defeat. In a turnabout, it is the Republican legislative hopefuls who are distancing themselves from their party's gubernatorial candidate Christine Todd Whitman.

Supporters of campaign finance reform have gotten their way with state House leaders, who, after months of stalling, have scheduled a vote on the controversial issue. House Majority Leader Ivan Itkin (D., Allegheny) said a bill establishing an optional public-financing system for statewide candidates would be voted on Jan. 24, according to his spokeswoman, Diane McCormick. It is not likely to be an easy day for lawmakers. First of all, the whole idea of changing the way political campaigns are financed is a contentious one for legislators.

Saying the flow of special-interest cash into political campaigns has heightened public cynicism, a coalition of Democratic politicians and government watchdog groups yesterday proposed new limits on contributions, as well as on public financing, for legislative races. Under the proposal, contributions to legislative candidates would be limited to $250 a year and contributions to local political candidates, such as for freeholder, mayor and township committeeperson, would be limited to $100 per candidate.

Democratic state Rep. Ralph Kaiser might be fighting to retain his House seat, but yesterday he brought to this Pittsburgh suburb two things that can only help his cause. Gov. Casey and money. Not necessarily in that order. With Casey here on a western swing for legislative candidates, freshman legislator Kaiser gave a $10,000 check to a Castle Shannon senior citizens group. The money, for a new senior citizens center, is from state funds that do not show up in the budget but are used by incumbents for pet projects in their districts.

THE FORMER HEAD of the 300-member Philadelphia Dominican Grocers Association expressed outrage yesterday that federal prosecutors won't file charges against police officers who allegedly stole cash and goods from bodega owners. "It is incomprehensible that no charges are going to be brought after several years of federal investigations into most of these crimes," said Danilo Burgos, of Hunting Park. "The victims need answers from both federal and local authorities. If a decision has been made not to charge the officers, [the merchants]

A decade after a federal court judge ordered New Jersey to stop enforcing a controversial residency requirement for state legislative candidates, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa is fighting to reinstitute it. The Attorney General's Office is preparing to argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year has left election officials with contradictory court opinions that need to...

Gabriela Mosquera, the freshman South Jersey Democrat whose Assembly election was overturned by a Superior Court judge last week, may take her seat Tuesday with the rest of the Legislature, an appellate court has ruled. Mosquera, who is set to represent the Fourth District, had been found in violation of the state's residency requirement for legislative candidates. But a three-judge state appeals panel ruled Monday that the constitutional questions surrounding the rule were sufficient to allow her to take office while legal proceedings continued.

Illinois, infamous for political corruption, enacted its first-ever campaign contribution limits last week, on the one-year anniversary of the arrest of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Pennsylvania should be next. Only 11 states, including Pennsylvania, have yet to limit how much money individuals or political action committees can donate to candidates for public office. It's a failure that erodes public confidence in the legislature and allows special interests to dictate public policy coming out of Harrisburg.

New Jersey Republicans and Democrats, campaigning under new pay-to-play rules that make raising money harder than ever, are reaching into the deep pockets of party leaders. In recent days, Gov. Corzine has written a $37,000 check each to the Democratic organizations in Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Bergen and Monmouth Counties. The money he gives to Democratic legislative candidates, or raises on their behalf, is expected to reach $500,000 this season, said his press secretary, Lilo Stainton.

On Tuesday, voters from across New Jersey will select candidates to fill all 120 seats of the Legislature. When the winners begin their terms in January, they will be confronted with issues that voters have placed their trust in them to solve. These issues include the continued need for property-tax reform, the lack of affordable health care, the reality that many of our roads and bridges are in disrepair, and the court-order commitment to provide quality education to our state's youngest residents.

Democrats are raising far more money than Republicans in a handful of highly competitive local legislative races in New Jersey, according to campaign reports released yesterday. Since the beginning of the campaign season, legislative candidates around the state have raised $27.8 million and spent $14 million. In 2003, the last time all 120 seats were up, they raised $48 million and spent $40.4 million in the same period. Democratic legislative candidates in Burlington, Atlantic, Cape May and Monmouth Counties have raised a combined $4 million, while Republicans have raised $2 million.

Harrisburg shouldn't allow the muddled to hurt the good. The good is a campaign-finance law with reasonable donor limits. The muddled is a series of well-intentioned but competing proposals that could divide legislators' support and stall reform. For too long, Pennsylvania has refused to set limits on the amount fat-cat contributors can give to political candidates. Even the U.S. Congress restricts individual donors to $2,300 per candidate. But Harrisburg has resisted limits because the current system serves incumbents so well.

This year's battle of Burlington will determine whether the county's powerful Republican machine is in transition or the early stages of decline. Buoyed by recent incremental victories - the surrogate's seat, two Assembly seats, and more than a dozen municipal wins - local Democrats are pledging to chip away at the county courthouse in November and capture at least one state Senate seat. The Republican county committee has taken some hits recently. Its chairman, Mike Warner, resigned amid controversy over losing control of Evesham Township and potential risks to the Eighth District legislative candidates.

Tuesday's primary election is fraught with youthful ambition, political punishment, and tests of power in a handful of North Jersey legislative districts. For legislative candidates running unopposed in that region, the primary is an understated prelude to the saber bouts between Democrats and Republicans expected in the general election. There are few municipal primaries in Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties, making North Jersey's intraparty squabbles the main event.